Today In The Valley (Dec. 22)
Southern Illinois (4-6) vs. Western Michigan (3-8)
7:00 p.m.
SIU Arena; Carbondale, Illinois
Another SIU game, another chance for them to rebound from a loss. It would be easy to feel sorry for SIU this time of year. The holidays are right around the corner, as well as Valley play, and Creighton’s opponents need all the wins they can get to help influence the mercurial RPI rankings. All Chris Lowery wants is 40 minutes of complete basketball from his team. He’s also seeking retribution for last year’s 57-41 loss at Western Michigan.
In a loss Saturday in the John Wooden Tradition in Indianapolis, the Salukis played a strong, intense first half, built a lead as large as 9 points, but settled for a 31-27 halftime lead. The Salukis scored first in the second half but then St. Mary’s went on a 24-3 run over a 9:48 span and never looked back. Ryan Hare came off the bench to lead SIU with 14 points.
Western Michigan will be the final tune-up for SIU before the Salukis travel to Peoria to start Valley play against Bradley. This season’s slow start can be chalked up to one of two issues for this young SIU squad: all of the new faces are going through some growing pains while getting used to Division I basketball, or the preseason trip to Canada SIU took got the season started too early and the newbies are not used to the long haul of the college season. A combination of the two could make for bad news for Saluki fans with two-thirds of the season remaining.
David Kool is on the verge of becoming the 25th Bronco to score 1,000 points. Donald Lawson will be patrolling the paint. His three blocks last game moved him to 11th on the Western Michigan career list. “Luck,” or strong play down the stretch, hasn’t been easy for the Broncos. They’ve lost four games by six points or less in their 3-8 season. This game shouldn’t be that close, but it depends on how much of the game SIU will show up for.
~ Panon
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Wichita State (5-5) vs. North Dakota (6-4)
7:00 p.m.
Koch Arena; Wichita, Kansas
The only thing standing between the Shockers and the holidays are the North Dakota Fighting Sioux. This is the first season in Division I for the Fighting Sioux, who have already played another MVC team (UNI) and lost soundly (69-49). Gregggggggg Marshall and his players are looking at what should be an easy win to wind down their non-conference schedule (save for the ESPNU BracketBuster event in February), and then they’ll have a few days to eat some turkey and prepare for a road trip to Omaha.
In this morning’s Wichita Eagle, Paul Suellentrop tackles the topic of WSU’s reliance on junior college transfers Reggie Chamberlain and Clevin Hannah in the backcourt. Read here for the comparisons to CU’s own Cavel Witter and Booker Woodfox. To sum up: the best is yet to come for both of the new Shox, but it is a question of when they’ll turn the corner for good.
North Dakota hopes tonight isn’t that turning point. They’ll rely on Daniel Harkins’ 12 points per game and O.J. Harrison’s 11 points per contest to try and pace the Fighting Sioux offense. But with only one starter 6-7 or taller, it could be a banner evening for Ramon Clemente and the Shox on the boards.
After venting about the team’s early season inconsistencies on Facebook last week, Clemente had what Suellentrop considered the senior forward’s best all-around game in a WSU uniform against Northern Arizona: he scored 12 points (6-6 from the field), grabbed 14 rebounds, and dished 5 assists with zero turnovers against the Lumberjacks.
~ Creighton Otter
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Missouri State (7-3) vs. Middle Tennessee State (6-5)
8:00 p.m.
JQH Arena; Springfield, Missouri
The Bears and the Blue Raiders square off tonight in the final game of the Basketball Traveler’s Tip-Off Tournament, with both teams winning their previous two games of the weekend tourney. Last night, MTSU handled Norfolk State 77-56 while MSU won yet another ugly game against a seemingly weaker opponent, beating UC-Irvine 57-48.
This quote from today’s Springfield News-Leader sums the weekend up for Missouri State: “It was the second win for the Bears in the tournament over a team with only one victory, and neither has come impressively. MSU shot just 35% from the field.” Chris Cooks got hot late for the Bears, hit a couple of 3-pointers, and paced his squad into a second win for the weekend.
The Blue Raiders outrebound their opponents 39.5-34.2 on average this season, and they’ll look to control the paint both on offense and defense against the Bears. MSU gave up easy baskets in the paint to the Anteaters, who outscored the Bears in the blocks.
For the home team to prevail tonight they’ll have to put a body or two on Desmond Yates. The 6-7 junior forward leads Middle Tennessee State with 18 points and nearly 6 rebounds per game. Wade Knapp and Kyle Weems, along with newcomer Will Creekmore, will need to play well in the post in order to pace MSU to a win.
~ Creighton Otter
7:00 p.m.
SIU Arena; Carbondale, Illinois
Another SIU game, another chance for them to rebound from a loss. It would be easy to feel sorry for SIU this time of year. The holidays are right around the corner, as well as Valley play, and Creighton’s opponents need all the wins they can get to help influence the mercurial RPI rankings. All Chris Lowery wants is 40 minutes of complete basketball from his team. He’s also seeking retribution for last year’s 57-41 loss at Western Michigan.
In a loss Saturday in the John Wooden Tradition in Indianapolis, the Salukis played a strong, intense first half, built a lead as large as 9 points, but settled for a 31-27 halftime lead. The Salukis scored first in the second half but then St. Mary’s went on a 24-3 run over a 9:48 span and never looked back. Ryan Hare came off the bench to lead SIU with 14 points.
Western Michigan will be the final tune-up for SIU before the Salukis travel to Peoria to start Valley play against Bradley. This season’s slow start can be chalked up to one of two issues for this young SIU squad: all of the new faces are going through some growing pains while getting used to Division I basketball, or the preseason trip to Canada SIU took got the season started too early and the newbies are not used to the long haul of the college season. A combination of the two could make for bad news for Saluki fans with two-thirds of the season remaining.
David Kool is on the verge of becoming the 25th Bronco to score 1,000 points. Donald Lawson will be patrolling the paint. His three blocks last game moved him to 11th on the Western Michigan career list. “Luck,” or strong play down the stretch, hasn’t been easy for the Broncos. They’ve lost four games by six points or less in their 3-8 season. This game shouldn’t be that close, but it depends on how much of the game SIU will show up for.
~ Panon
---
Wichita State (5-5) vs. North Dakota (6-4)
7:00 p.m.
Koch Arena; Wichita, Kansas
The only thing standing between the Shockers and the holidays are the North Dakota Fighting Sioux. This is the first season in Division I for the Fighting Sioux, who have already played another MVC team (UNI) and lost soundly (69-49). Gregggggggg Marshall and his players are looking at what should be an easy win to wind down their non-conference schedule (save for the ESPNU BracketBuster event in February), and then they’ll have a few days to eat some turkey and prepare for a road trip to Omaha.
In this morning’s Wichita Eagle, Paul Suellentrop tackles the topic of WSU’s reliance on junior college transfers Reggie Chamberlain and Clevin Hannah in the backcourt. Read here for the comparisons to CU’s own Cavel Witter and Booker Woodfox. To sum up: the best is yet to come for both of the new Shox, but it is a question of when they’ll turn the corner for good.
North Dakota hopes tonight isn’t that turning point. They’ll rely on Daniel Harkins’ 12 points per game and O.J. Harrison’s 11 points per contest to try and pace the Fighting Sioux offense. But with only one starter 6-7 or taller, it could be a banner evening for Ramon Clemente and the Shox on the boards.
After venting about the team’s early season inconsistencies on Facebook last week, Clemente had what Suellentrop considered the senior forward’s best all-around game in a WSU uniform against Northern Arizona: he scored 12 points (6-6 from the field), grabbed 14 rebounds, and dished 5 assists with zero turnovers against the Lumberjacks.
~ Creighton Otter
---
Missouri State (7-3) vs. Middle Tennessee State (6-5)
8:00 p.m.
JQH Arena; Springfield, Missouri
The Bears and the Blue Raiders square off tonight in the final game of the Basketball Traveler’s Tip-Off Tournament, with both teams winning their previous two games of the weekend tourney. Last night, MTSU handled Norfolk State 77-56 while MSU won yet another ugly game against a seemingly weaker opponent, beating UC-Irvine 57-48.
This quote from today’s Springfield News-Leader sums the weekend up for Missouri State: “It was the second win for the Bears in the tournament over a team with only one victory, and neither has come impressively. MSU shot just 35% from the field.” Chris Cooks got hot late for the Bears, hit a couple of 3-pointers, and paced his squad into a second win for the weekend.
The Blue Raiders outrebound their opponents 39.5-34.2 on average this season, and they’ll look to control the paint both on offense and defense against the Bears. MSU gave up easy baskets in the paint to the Anteaters, who outscored the Bears in the blocks.
For the home team to prevail tonight they’ll have to put a body or two on Desmond Yates. The 6-7 junior forward leads Middle Tennessee State with 18 points and nearly 6 rebounds per game. Wade Knapp and Kyle Weems, along with newcomer Will Creekmore, will need to play well in the post in order to pace MSU to a win.
~ Creighton Otter
posted by Creighton Otter at 7:01 AM
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